Ameriflex Group Inc. Takes $531,000 Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,760 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after acquiring an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,796,505,000 after purchasing an additional 4,832,813 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,159,099,000 after acquiring an additional 2,637,006 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,741,597,000 after acquiring an additional 681,555 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,186 shares in the company, valued at $11,505,311. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total value of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 257,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,431 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,356 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $62.99. The stock had a trading volume of 6,218,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,250,004. The stock has a market capitalization of $249.42 billion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.